Wake
by Paul P.S. Sullivan
Summary: Jessica and Lauren talk after a funeral. Post-"Breaking Dawn". Originally posted at the TwiSpiteFic LiveJournal.


**Wake**

Jessica and Lauren talk after a funeral. Post-"Breaking Dawn"

* * *

What Jessica Stanley didn't like about funerals was the receptions afterward. It was mostly the sad milling around that didn't endear to her, especially when she was much younger and it had been some elderly relative that she barely knew. Today, she couldn't really help it.

The reception attracted a small crowd, most of them her former classmates from Forks High who came a ways back into town from their respective schools. She met up with Mike Newton, who had grown out that bit of stubble on his chin but still wasn't quite yet a full-fledged beard, and his current girlfriend Amy Burns, a bottle red-head who seemed nice, and wished the both of them good luck when they left. Eric Yorkie had cropped his black hair and pierced his left ear three times since Jessica last saw him and his eyes were quite red from crying. She had no choice but to give him a hug and offer to pay for an ice cream cone while they were still in town.

Pastor Weber and his wife were talking to Chief Swan. Not a talkative man, the police chief nodded his head a few times and even placed a hand on the pastor's shoulder when the other man tried his hardest to not cry and failed. The twins, Josh and Isaac, were quietly keeping themselves busy at a table with what looked to be a card game.

Ben Chaney looked awful. Despite the nice coat and slacks and the neatly styled hair, his face was sunken and weary. When Jessica tried to talk to him, he backed away like a frightened animal. Chief Swan came to his rescue and led her towards the coffee and pastries. She asked him if Bella was around. He said that she wasn't any good at funerals, but sends her condolences. Setting her beside the buffet table, he uttered to her "I'm sorry that I couldn't have done more" and went back into the crowd.

Taking a bear claw and a cup of hot tea, Jessica sat down at an empty table. After taking a sip, she noticed Lauren Mallory had taken a seat across from her. Her blonde pixy cut had grown into a modest bob and her lower lip was pierced.

"Same place as Eric's?" Jessica asked, eying the piercing.

"Recommended it," Lauren replied. "Ben's still a bit haggard, isn't he?"

"Being accused of murder does that," Jessica answered, sipping her tea. "He could be thoughtless at times, but I really can't imagine him doing that to her."

"I don't think so either," Lauren said. "You've seen the reports about her corpse-"

Jessica gave her a disturbed look.

"Sorry, Jess. It happens when you're taking forensics, but they figured that she was dumped about fives minutes after Ben last saw her."

"How did they figure that out?"

"Mostly by how advance the rigor mortis is, the impressions left on snow and dirt, but the real question is how do you get 40 miles up the road, carrying 140-something pounds, in five minutes _without a car_? There were no tire tracks, only footprints."

"They said a bear or mountain lion might have gotten her," Jessica said, "but her body was all still there. Just this gash on her neck and not a drop of blood left in her."

"Exactly," Lauren answered. "Scary thing, it wasn't just Langley either. Vancouver, Astoria. It's almost like what happened in Seattle last year. I think it might even be the same people, these freaks that get off on exsanguinations."

Jessica's eyes became very wide.

"Sorry," Lauren said, "again."

Jessica fiddled with her cup for a moment.

"I remembered when I first moved up here," she said. "I sat right next to her in math. While the teacher talked, I dropped my pencil and it sounded like a bomb exploding. She just drilled this stare right into me, I couldn't move. Angela just leaned over, picked my pencil up and smiled at me. It made me move again."

"I was dumped the week before Valentine's Day that one year," said Lauren. "She slipped a card in my locker. I never told her about it, but I felt less crappy that day."

She rubbed the bridge of her nose and breathed a deep sigh.

"The last message I emailed her before she and Ben went was 'don't let the big bad wolves get you'. God, why? Why did I say that of all things? Was I trying to be cute? It was just stupid and I'd just sounded like such a dumb ass."

"I went up to The Cullens' house," Jessica said. "Bella and Edward answered the door. Bella looked a lot like the rest of them now like they made her get plastic surgery or something. Edward's hanging on her and sucking her ear."

Lauren let out a frustrated groan.

"There's a point I'm getting to, I promise. Anyway, I tell her that Angela's dead and she just stares at me for second, says that she's sorry and closes the door on me. I'm still at the door when I hear them kissing. At least, I think they were kissing."

It was Lauren's turn for her eyes to grow very wide.

"I'm just standing there, listening to them making out and trying to keep myself from screaming 'stop sucking his face and act like a human being'!"

Jessica let loose the tears, not caring that her make-up was smearing or that her nose was running.

"She was her best friend! She was always putting up with her crap and she's just so messed up! How damaged do you have to be to shrug it off like that?"

Jessica hiccuped when Lauren just got up and hugged her, not caring that her black cardigan was getting soaked with tears, runny makeup and snot. Jessica blubbered until her face was red and smudged.

"You feel better, Jess?" Lauren asked, pulling a handful of tissues from her purse.

Jessica nodded, blew her nose and wiped her eyes.

"It kinda sucks that we're not old enough to drink."

"Yeah," Jessica replied. "I promised Eric I would get him some ice cream."

"Ice cream sounds good," Lauren said with a tiny smile. "Do you think Josh and Isaac would like to come with us?"

"I wasn't really expecting a crowd."

"I'll chip in for old time's sake."

In spite of her red eyes and smeared makeup, Jessica smiled. The two of them got, rounded up their friends- with some coaxing when it came to the Weber twins- and piled them into Jessica's compact. The ride to JT's Sweet Stuffs was somber, the twins almost reluctant to have left the reception and the girls rather sorry to have dragged them along. However, when the party entered the restaurant, ordered their cones, and took over one of the larger booths, the mood had lightened. Between licks, the twins regaled their elders about how their big sister had attempted to make ice cream and how the results resembled and tasted like frozen scrambled eggs. Eric reenacted his recent visit to the tattoo salon and imitated the harsh Swiss brogue of the guy who pierced him, laughter erupting from the twins and the girls. Jessica even opened up about her first day at Alliant, namely her getting lost looking for her dorm, while Lauren told of her encounters with a folk punk band that covered sea shanties.

By the time Jessica dropped off the twins and said her "goodbyes" and "call you laters" to Eric and Lauren, her opinion of funerals had changed considerably.


End file.
